Things Are Improving

First the happy stuff. Jac’s school had theme days all this week - hat day, pajama day, etc. We asked Jac if she’d like a new outfit for Dress Your Best Day - YES! - so Marie and Leo took her shopping on our dime. 

The dress is cute but the shoes! Jac is definitely a little fashionista.

 Jaclyn of Oz

I’ve been putting off blogging since the house news was so depressing. Despite almost a full week of hot, noisy commercial-grade fans and dehumidifiers, several of the walls are still wet. My understanding is we can’t proceed until they’re dry - next moisture test is Friday. 

Asbestos testing was today, with results due sometime tomorrow. Pls cross your fingers and toes that we don’t have to deal with that. We definitely have mold, it’s just a matter of how much… Attic insulation was soaked and one of mitigation guys said mold grows very well in insulation.

There’s piles of furniture and belongings everywhere. Hubby spends a couple hours each morning emptying out the damaged rooms. A van full of books went to Friends of the Library and the dumpster out front is filling up with stuff we no longer have a place for. 

We’re also losing the custom closet/bookshelves Pop built. The big closet has mold behind the wall and spreading to the floor so it all had to go (the sliding mahogany bookshelves on either side are already gone. 😩) The white shelves on the left in the arch are also too damaged to keep.

 Red arrows for water damage

The better news is that we finally got fed up with the ac company stalling on everything - “I’ll get back to you on that” was the favorite refrain - and sent a strongly worded email* letting them know that and setting a deadline for a response. Miracle of miracles, we had a call back in 4 hours. The youngster they had call us (rather than a manager or administrator like we wanted) said the GM had seen the email and we would be hearing from him. Now we’ll see if they follow through on their repair proposal…

* All communications from the ac company have been by phone. Finding an email address other than their general “info” account was tough. Pop says it’s so the emails can’t be subpoenaed in a lawsuit but he’s just a cynic (and maybe not wrong.😜)

 

Three Things

Three things, two good and one ...

  Lavender is flowering, bees will be happy

New plants in the front yard are thriving, for the most part, despite being hit with temps of 90-104 in their first three days.

  Gnomes are gnoming

Hubby has started 'decorating' the back, putting new plants in planters and letting the gnomes roam. 

  Blue arrows mark damage zones

And the not so good - 

  Water damage in both closets

insurance adjuster* came to check the damage, take photos and give us the number for a water mitigation company. 

  Water is under the wood almost wall-to-wall

Mitigation company was there an hour later, water meter and blue tape in hand.

  Big noisy fans

They were great, the news was... not. 

 

Plus, they are required to have the house tested for asbest0s before they can do any further work. (We're asbest0s-free according to escrow papers from 38(!) years ago.) Monday the AC company's handyman will be here, along with more people from the water mitigation firm. Maybe I'll bake cookies.... (not) 

* I mentioned to the insurance adjuster that we might not have enough damage to meet our 4-figure (ouch!) deductible and should maybe hold off on starting some of the process... paraphrasing, 'I don't think that's going to be a problem...' 

 

Mellow Yellow

The new house paint is so bright I had to personally go out and approve it - hubby and painter weren’t taking any chances it was the wrong shade. 

Fortunately we still had the original paint chip - and could find it! - to have the new batch mixed to (kinda) match. 

Can you tell it’s faded over the past few years??

The crew started on Monday and hubby thought they’d be done by Thursday. 

These guys are fast but there’s still a lot to do - 

including climbing on the roof again to paint the trim - so we’re betting on a Friday finish.

Then I think we’re done? Maybe? At least until the new year when it’s ‘paint the interior’ time again…

Jelly Roll Day

It’s almost that time again. National (international?) Sew A Jelly Roll Day is this Saturday, Sept. 19. Whooooo! 

I’m combining jelly roll day with Quilt of the Quarter, which according to our loosely enforced rules is due by the end of the month. 

I thought I was down to just one jelly roll but found another in a kit I’m never going to make. It’s now all chopped up, along with a scrappy collection of neutrals to make …

Scrappy Islands, a free pattern from Quilted Twins. Hoping it will be a fast, enjoyable sew.

It’s Aways Something

Headed for bed Thursday night, stepped on something wet and immediately blamed the &##% cat.

Who, me??

Nope, it was the air conditioner leaking. Again.

Last time, again on my way to bed, I heard water running in the walls before we found the stream flowing out of the closet and under the hardwood floor. AC company came out, admitted they’d built the drainage incorrectly when they installed the new system and “fixed” it. 

 Squishy, squishy

No running water noises this time, so the water had plenty of time to really soak into the flooring and the ceiling of the adjacent room. Good new for us - a service tech was here in June for routine maintenance and apparently didn’t clean the drain/trap thingy. Bad news for the company since the walls, ceiling and bedroom floor all need repair/replacing. Wanna bet on how much hassle getting this fixed is going to be? Crossing fingers…

Done!

Despite today’s thunderstorm - temps in the 80’s, huge thunder claps right over the house; what is this weirdness?? - the front yard is finished. It looks sooooo good!

The brown stuff is gorilla hair mulch. 

Gotta admit I picked it - rather than the wood chips Pop thought we were getting - mostly a little bit for the name. It’s also supposed to blow around less when the winds start up next month.

The tiny bit of grass was exactly what we wanted. 

Just enough to admire the green and hope we can keep it going if water restrictions come back. Everything else is drought tolerant and on a drip watering system. 

A last minute change was putting ground cover in the sidewalk-adjacent sections, also known as the doggy pooping ground. 😡 

Tried explaining what I wanted to the landscape guy, based on a crummy picture we took on an evening walk. G00gle couldn’t ID it, the nursery people had no idea and all hubby could remember was it was maybe on one of 3… or maybe 4 streets nearby. 

Landscaper drove around until he actually found it! It’s low and thick, with pretty purple flowers. Perfect.

Bet you thought that was the end of the story. Nope! Exterior house painting starts Monday! 

The Green Stuff

Plants started going in this morning. Whooo!

View from the front door

We got really lucky. 

 View to the left…

The landscape guy had a one week window, beginning today, before he started a big 3-week job. Otherwise, we’d be sitting here looking at dirt for awhile.

 …and to the right.

This is about the halfway point. 

 Big dirt patch on the left is where the sod will go.

The remaining sprinklers and the sod go in tomorrow, along with a couple of plants they couldn’t get to today. 

We’re planning to add a tree or two, 

plus more plants to fill in a bit, once the budget recovers. It’s been awhile since we put in a tree - they are expensive!

 Ground cover also goes in tomorrow in front of the wall

Last Bits

Looks like we’re done! 

It was a full day of bits and pieces but by 4 pm the crew was loaded up and pulling away. 

Owl Bob’s perch is cemented. It’ll need to cure for another day or so before we put anything on it. 

They cut the sidewalk by the back gate to install the last drain pipe, 

then patched it back up. 

The low voltage lights work 

although the app that runs them is a royal PITA.

The left over rocks, pebbles and gravel are ready for the landscape guy. 

Should have a bid tomorrow and if it looks good, they could start planting on Monday. 

Crossing fingers!